Hello, about 3 days ago I got my first Chinese water dragon from a local pet store. Ive been thinking about getting one for a long time now, and when I went to the store they had 4 of them. All but one look like they wouldn't make it, im not sure if they just didn't care for them the way they should of or didn't feed them or what. But I bought Herman, he was the only one that didn't look like death, but was very skinny and didn't move around much. Ive basically been giving him a buffet since I got him. That first night I brought him home he had 13 crix, 8 small meal worms, almost a entire leaf of greens and a slice of apple. Since then he hasn't eaten as much, maybe 3 crix and some worms but he was obviously hungry. Hes moving around more now and actually acting normal. But my issue is he is very angry, he seems to be calming down now. But when I got him all he tried to do is bite, now I can hold him and put my fingers near him without worry.
Pretty much im just trying to find some good methods of getting him used to me. So far just lots of handling has been working but is there another way to kinda speed up the process and get him used to people? He seems very nervous all the time.

Thank you

i like to just sit on the couch and let my dragons do what they want and they will hangout with me and other times they will go exploring... i find it best to hold on to them for a short period of time like 10-20 mins then let them do what they want so they dont see me as a threat...for the first minute or two they get a bit jumpy but after that they calm down...but theres no real way to speed up "taming" them... it just takes some reptiles longer then others to trust people...

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"Look down at me and you see a fool;
look up at me and you see a god;
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charles manson

I usually don't "hold" my dragon, but really just let him climb around on my back and shoulders. Some days he's comfortable with it and will chill there as a walk around, other days he'll hop off onto the closest piece of furniture and go exploring.

thank you both for the suggestions, I did the hole couch thing, after holding herman for about 15 minutes he seemed to be calming down so I let him go and he wondered around the couch for a little bit, seemed a lot less nervous when I went to put him back too. I think a daily season like this will greatly improve his anger issues

You should not be handling your dragon yet... You have only had him for three days - he is in a new environment. He is nervous and tried to bite you because he sees you as a threat. You are a hundred times his size - he views you as a potential predator trying to grab him. He does not need this on top of a sudden change of environment.

Reptiles are not "tamable". They can learn to tolerate you however.

Give him at least one to two weeks to adjust to his new home (that is without handling). You can try hand-feeding him so that he learns to "trust" you. After this, you can introduce your hand to him more, slowly, working in the enclosure near him, touching him gently with a finger (but not from above him). Once he learns to tolerate your presence more, you can try handling him for VERY SHORT periods of time (a FEW minutes) once a day, increasing the time LITTLE by LITTLE.

As was said, you cannot "speed up the process". Gaining the reptile's "trust" requires time and patience.

Your dragon does not have "anger issues". He is scared to death, and is attempting to defend himself.

Taking him out for fifteen minutes is MUCH too long a time on top of the stress of a new environment.

what I ment by "hold on to him" was to let him sit in your hand with and then let him run up yours arms if he wants.....also like dragon paw said dont handle him for long periods of time...when you first start to handle him make it like 5 mins then over time you can increase the amount of time hes with you... hand feed is a great way also....you may see him lick the couch or other objects hes on or near, all hes doing is learning his suroundings and trying to understand what hes on...well thats what I read not sure how true that is but I have seen my WDs lick sometimes

__________________
"Look down at me and you see a fool;
look up at me and you see a god;
look straight at me and you see yourself”

charles manson